"What are you doing?!" I scolded Nico. "You have to level the wings to keep us in the air!" I pulled the lever to the left and successfully leveled the aircraft. We were reaching above 35,000 feet and steadily rising. I let out a huff of comfort and relaxed, knowing they wouldn't catch us up here now. I got out and left the cockpit and requested Nico to take control of the plane.
I walked into the passenger area and stared at an unconscious Oni. I looked at everyone surrounding him and went to look where they kept the drinks. The plane was a 747 so it wasn't hard to find what I was looking for. Ashrin came inside and looked at me with a panicked look.
"Vanitas, Oni's-" I took a long sip of my Dr. Pepper and narrowed my eyes. "Oni's unconsc-" I tried sipping louder. "He's unconscious and-" If my eyes could get narrower I would shrink them even more. "Are you even listening?!"
I pretended to ponder on the question for a while to tick her off. "Nope. Why do you ask?" She groaned. "Just fix his wound and smack him on the head. He'll live."
I was going to finish my drink when she grabbed my arm and took me to that problem child once more. She put me on one of the seats and pulled my injured leg up. I yelped in pain. "What are you doing?" I gritted my teeth.
"If we're helping him heal, we might as well do it for everyone injured here." She grabbed a tweezer and asked Skai to numb the area.
"I'm fine!" I protested. "I don't need your help with my leg!" Skai held onto my limb and froze it. "Oi! Watch it, you'll give me frostbite!"
"No you won't." Crimson replied, and took the tweezers from Ash. She carefully placed them in the bullet hole and grabbed a hold of it. She clutched my shin and yanked the bullet out from my body. It took all my willpower not to scream right then and there. Ash warmed my leg while Crimson wrapped bandages around it.
Once that was done, they let go of me, and I could run back to the safe haven of the cockpit. There, Nico was adjusting the plane to auto-pilot. He noticed me and didn't even bother to ask about my disheveled figure. I slumped in my seat and I groaned loudly.
"What is it?" He continued looking forward.
"I don't have the energy for this." I slid even further into my seat.
Nico raised an eyebrow. "For what?"
I gestured vaguely at the scene.
Skai seemed to have lost Pebbles and was desperately trying to find him again. Oni seemed to have started waking up but couldn't seem to get off the floor. Sholto, Zane, and Keith were sleeping near the window side, completely oblivious to the commotion around them. Ash, Crimson, and Mune were finishing cleaning the wounds and injuries everyone got. Jay and Eli found the drinks and were having some sort of drinking contest? I don't know anymore. Lina was the only normal one there- wait. Oh, nope. She was watching a film on the screen in front of her.
"Ah," he seemed to realize. "You can't handle a bunch of crackheads right now." He looked back outside. "Don't worry though. You've still got a week with them."
"Absolutely not." I growled at him. He snickered. "I am willing to put up with monsters, Deltans, Lorianians, Kitmoks, Lyrquifs, Rejitaags, and Vonpraks for months. I will not, however, tolerate those idiots for another minute." Nico laughed at my determination.
"Well then, where to?" He asked. I fixed my posture and toggled with the controls.
"How do you feel about going to America?" I asked.
Someone gasped behind me. I turned to see Skai with a joyful and excited expression as he clung on to his new pet lizard. "We're going to America?" Now everyone had their attention directed towards us, even Lina.
I glowered at Skai. "Go away." He happily took off and sat with his brother on the floor.
"So, where exactly in America?" He asked. I took out my hologram device and showed a map of the country.
I pointed at Ohio. "My friend has a workshop over there. He'll help get rid of the tracker and help us get to Michigan. From there we'll make our way to Canada and find a plane to or nearby Romania and get these kids home."
Nico seemed to understand the plan really well. "Okay, but what about in between?" He pointed at the border between the two states. "Once we reach Ohio, Yuuto obviously will find out where we are if they don't know already. Even if we do make it and get a plane back to Romania, won't Yuuto be waiting for us back there?"
"No, I'll book us tickets to Berlin first, then book us tickets back to Romania." I replied.
He thought about it. "I don't like it, but I guess it'll have to do." He looked back outside. "I'll see if we get there, you can go and watch the kids."
"They're fine." A crash came from outside. He glanced at me skeptically. Yelling could be heard as well. I smiled and closed my eyes. "Just fine." More crashing. "They are taking care of themselves alright." Anguished screams. Nico opened his mouth to speak. "If you tell me they need my help, I swear-" I gritted my teeth while smiling.
"Vanitas!" Someone hollered. Eli. He bursted into the cockpit and shut the door behind him. "Help me." Nico smiled at me and pointed at him.
"Please. I accidentally woke up Sholto, which woke up the others." Let me guess, Jay's unconscious too. "And Jay's passed out on the floor from drinking too much soda." Called it. The girls are . . . "The girls are trying to kill me for ruining their concentration while taking care of Oni." Skai and Mune? "Skai lost his lizard and Mune's sulking in the back."
In other words, it's- "Just as I said. They're fine." The both of them looked at me with disbelief for a few seconds before Nico exploded with laughter. The door finally opened, and everyone behind and infront of it fell. The winged boy in front of me couldn't seem to stop chortling at the scene presented to him. He practically fell off his chair from it.
Ash grabbed Eli by the leg before he could run off. "Where do you think you're going?"
I tuned them out and took control of the plane. I couldn't really see much, other than clouds and city lights. I glanced at the time, it was almost three in the morning. I decided to get some shut eye and make sure the others also do too.
I got up from my seat and heard a croak come from in front of me. I looked to see Pebbles staring at me. I glanced at the murder scene in front of the doorway and back at the little lizard. "How did you even get here?"
The reptile just stared at me, before lickig his eye. I shrugged. "Fair enough." I picked him up and carefully made it past the death zone between the passenger area and the cockpit and made it to the twins.
Oni was dozing off in a seat while his innocent brother watched him in silence. I sat beside him and gave him Pebbles. He smiled and placed him in his pocket. He looked at me with a crestfallen face. "Hey Vanitas?"
"Hmm?" I grabbed a pillow and a blanket from the seat in front of me. Who knew these things were in here?
"Do you think my mom hates me?" I snapped my head to his direction, dumbfounded. Hate? No, Kettō nevered hated her children. She loved each and every kid she met, no matter where they came from. She practically bonded with Ash the moment she stepped into her house- at least, that was what I was told. "I mean, she never actually tried to talk to me, and never provided any information about my family. She rarely provides me with anything useful, and she never asks about my well-being in the letters she sends you. So does she hate me?"
I ruffled his hair. "You're mother would give you the world if it meant she could stay with you forever. The reason she had to leave you was because-"
"-was because I couldn't hide my appearance I know. But, it seems like she wants to get rid of me. Why couldn't she have spared me a visit when I was younger?"
"She did. As many times as she could. But the more visits she took, the more suspicious people became and more she feared someone would find you. So, she had to stop seeing you."
I genuinely smiled at him and pulled him into a hug. "Believe me, the last thing your mother would want would be to never see you at all." I couldn't see his face, but I knew he was happy with that answer.
His response was a small yawn. I placed the blanket on both him and his brother. "Get some sleep now, okay?" I put the pillow behind his head. "Tomorrow's gonna be really busy." With that, I watched him fall asleep.
I closed my eyes and remembered my time as a child, when things seem almost like now.
~~~
"Oh my, look at how gifted Ashrin is!"
"I've heard she can shape-shift like her mother!"
"She must be really lucky living in a beautiful palace."
"I've been told they even have a room for her to practice her skills!"
"I suppose it's expected from someone of royal blood."
"She truly is the kingdom's princess."
All day, that is what I heard from everyone. How wonderful she was, how amazing, how talented, how beautiful she was, how lucky she was. I spent my time in my room, or in the garden with my friend, Crimson. She never judged me for the person I was, like other people.
"Did you know, the youngest prince of Carthya has no power at all!"
"His parents must feel ashamed for having someone like him in their family."
"I can't believe he and Ashrin are even related!"
"If I were his parents, I would throw him out on the streets immediately."
"How can he help us if he can't help himself?"
"I pity the boy, he must feel like such a failure."
My parents always told me I was the best child they could have, and that the people's words meant nothing. But it felt like knives going in my back. Crimson was nice though. She would make me smile and laugh and never cared about whether or not I had powers. "You're cool and amazing just the way you are, no matter what!" Is what she told me every time.
One day, I was looking in the library, searching for anything that could give me powers of sorts. I found a book about a woman that lived inside a mountain on Carthya. She was said to be able to give powers to those who seek it, but one had to properly follow her rules to get what they wanted.
"So, you want to go to this woman and get your powers from her?" Crimson asked skeptically.
I nodded eagerly. "Yeah! That way people can stop making fun of me," I tried convincing her. "And, you can become my personal advisor if I do get my powers!"
"And if you don't?" She argued.
"Then you'll still be my personal advisor, if it means you'll help me find her." She thought about it, before finally agreeing. We planned to leave that night, so no one would ask what we were doing.
We thought everything would turn out just fine. We thought it was going to be okay. We thought our lives would become normal when we came back.
Looking back at it now, I wish it was.